Another Conservatism

Not terribly long ago, the notion of the national Congress and the President interfering in a private family matter such as the Terri Schiavo case, purposefully usurping the traditional vested authority of the state courts in such matters, would have caused ulcers -- or at least severe acid reflux -- in the guts of conservatives all across this broad land. Only liberals would abuse the power of the national government to override state or local authority, especially in a matter of family and faith. Such nonsense was conservative apostasy.

Then we fell down the rabbit hole and everything is topsy-turvy. Andrew Sullivan makes a very sophisticated case that the dividing line of the old conservatism and this new brand is doubt and faith. Very interesting and whether or not you ever cared about conservatism, this matters in the coming battles to use government to make LGBT's second class citizens.

Leave a comment

We want to know your opinion on this issue! While arguing about an opinion or idea is encouraged, personal attacks will not be tolerated. Please be respectful of others.

The editorial team will delete a comment that is off-topic, abusive, exceptionally incoherent, includes a slur or is soliciting and/or advertising. Repeated violations of the policy will result in revocation of your user account. Please keep in mind that this is our online home; ill-mannered house guests will be shown the door.

It's because of the recent slide towards religious fundamentalism. The #1 growing denomination in the United States right now is the Mormons. As people tend to vote based on these strict religious ideals, the religious extremists are taking over government. It's the same thing that happened in Afghanistan, only in a slightly more subtle way.

I'm reading a really interesting book right now for my book club - it's called "1912 : Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft and Debs -The Election that Changed the Country" and it's really an interesting read about how that election caused a rift in the Republican Party and sent them down the wrong road towards conservativism rather than reform, and opened the door for the religious nutjobs to take over the party.

It isn't conservatism that is at fault. It's fundamentalism, as Bill points out. Andrew's point is that the traditional conservatism of prudence and moderation objected to a close marriage of religion with the power of government. Keep everything in its proper place and keep power divided and dispersed. Don't let piety become arrogance. The "bible" of civil society is the Constitution, not holy scripture. The religious right has dumped prudence for a mad power grab to remake the country according to their fundamentalist dogma.

The right seems to think that a theocracy and a democracy are one and the same. And to see Pricilla Owen be officially nominated to the bench today confirms the inroad that these religious fundamentalists are making in our government. It's very scary.